Belleville volleyball young, but talented

Entering his seventh season as Belleville High's head girls volleyball coach, John Spina expects to see a young, but eager team, when practice officially begins on Aug. 14.

Spina, himself a Belleville High graduate, took over the program in the fall of 2011 and has seen some tremendous results over the past few years. Graduation took its toll last June, but that's far from discouraging to the coach.

"We lost some talented kids to graduation," said Spina. "But we have to look ahead, as well. We had a good summer season. I know there's a lot of kids who will be battling for starting time on the varsity, and that will make for some good weeks of practice."

Belleville's first scrimmage is set for Aug. 23, at Rutherford High, starting at 10 a.m. The Bucs will host Harrison on Aug. 25, and visit Wayne Hills on Aug. 29. Scrimmages at Cedar Grove, on Aug. 30, Hackensack on Aug. 31 and Garfield on Sept. 6 close out a busy pre-season.

Since the gymnasium floor at Belleville High is being redone, the Bucs will play all but the Harrison scrimmage on the road. All of the pre-season games begin at 10 a.m.

The regular season opener is on Sept. 8, at Hoboken High, starting at 4:30 p.m. The home opener will be on Sept. 14, when Newark Academy visits, at 4 p.m.

Belleville has put together five straight winning seasons, including a 15-13 campaign in 2016.

Since early July, Belleville has played in a summer league. There was also open gyms at the high school, where a good turnout of players participated.

"My assistant coaches, Ryan Sheridan and Gerard Fabiano have been overseeing the open gyms, as well as myself," said Spina. "It's great having two assistants this year. Gerard has really taken to the job and has been running our volleyball middle school program, as well."

Spina also was pleased to have former players Barbara Jacangelo, Gianna Benacquista and Victoria Bruno also help out with the team during July.

"That means a lot, having them coaching the younger kids," said Spina.

Spina isn't sure how many players will be coming out for official practice on Aug. 14, but he thinks it will be a large number.

"We had as many as 60 kids at some of the open gyms," said Spina. "Other times, the number was a little smaller. With vacations and stuff, it's hard to judge, but I think we'll see a lot of kids."

Tryouts will be held from Aug. 14-16. Spina could have as many as 20 to 25 players on the freshman squad, alone. Last season was the first year that Belleville had a freshman squad for girls volleyball.

Among the returning players this fall will be seniors Natasha Sanchez, Justine Ariola and Susan Asali. Juniors Cherylann Nicosia, Natalia Peralta, Angela Tran and Maria Tabago should also be in the running for varsity playing time. Spina also is pleased with the progress of sophomores Angela Diaz and Alethea Cruz.

"We have some younger kids with good height, and there are some good athletes on the team," said Spina. "We are young, and inexperienced, but there's some talent. We'll be playing in a tough league, the SEC Liberty, but that's how you get better, by playing quality opponents."

The coach also plans to name team captains in a few weeks.

"I have a few ideas on captains, but I want to see how the early practices go," said Spina. "It should be an interesting season, and I'm looking forward to working with this team."